PHIL 2010 Study Guide - Fall 2018, Comprehensive Midterm Notes - Aristotle, God, Plato
12 Oct 2018
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PHIL 2010
MIDTERM EXAM
STUDY GUIDE
Fall 2018
Philosophy Exam 1 Notes
-Agathos
-People who aren't aristocrats cannot be good which means no social mobility. (moving a class
up)
-In the homer society, to be an agathos, you need to own land and be able to protect your land.
(warriors)
-Example: Odysseus. When his ship broke down, he went to an island and kneeled down
to the princess there. (He is not agathos here because he is not in power and does not
own land. He is a beggar here because he asks for her mercy.)
-Whether you look good is based on social class. (Kakos: common people/ugly)
-Middling is also another "nice" word for middle class.
-When the middling class complains, they are at the aristocrats' mercy. They want to
redefine what agathos means. To do that, they need an aristocrat or an agathos person
to lead them. That leader is most likely leading them for power and more influence.
(monarch)
-Aristocrats refuse to share power. (injustice) The political order should follow the
natural order. (Balance) There should be balance between the aristocrats and the
middling.
-When the middling found a leader, there is a tyranny. (dictatorship/monarch) The tyrants break
the power of the aristocrats.
-There is a struggle between two aristocrats (Cleistheyes and Isagaros) They want the
support of the people. Cleistheyes is responsible for introducing the system of
democracy.
-Cleisthenes successfully allied himself with the popular Assembly against the nobles
(508) and imposed democratic reform. Perhaps his most important innovation was the
basing of individual political responsibility on citizenship of a place rather than on
membership in a clan.
-Azete: Virtue
-Virtue ethnics: not looking at actions but looking at the characteristics of the person.
-How is philosophy and democracy connected?
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-If you want power in democracy, you need to be persuasive. Philosophy studies arguments
(historical development).
-Anaximander: Important philosopher
-Apeiron is a fundamental principle. Its intangible and abstract. Apeiron is the the ultimate
obstruction so you cannot go beyond it. It is boundless and limitless.
-Nature is a matter of necessity. Necessity is governed by natural laws. Things in nature
happens for a reason. (reasons behind nature)
-1.Political order should reflect the natural order
-2.Natural order is a balance of opposites over time. Therefore political order should be
balanced. Aristocacry should share power with the middling.
-According to Aristotle and Theophrastus, the first Greek philosophers were looking for
the "origin" or "principle" (the Greek word "archê" has both meanings) of all things.
Anaximander is said to have identified it with "the Boundless" or "the Unlimited" (Greek:
"apeiron," that is, "that which has no boundaries"). Already in ancient times, it is
complained that Anaximander did not explain what he meant by "the Boundless."
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
Document Summary
People who aren"t aristocrats cannot be good which means no social mobility. (moving a class up) In the homer society, to be an agathos, you need to own land and be able to protect your land. (warriors) When his ship broke down, he went to an island and kneeled down to the princess there. (he is not agathos here because he is not in power and does not own land. He is a beggar here because he asks for her mercy. ) Whether you look good is based on social class. (kakos: common people/ugly) Middling is also another nice word for middle class. When the middling class complains, they are at the aristocrats" mercy. To do that, they need an aristocrat or an agathos person to lead them. That leader is most likely leading them for power and more influence. (monarch)
